I think jump range is pretty well balanced in the previous games - you can get ~40 LY out of a Gecko, possibly as much as ~60 LY out of a smaller fighter, but in either case, this means stripping out everything that isn't hyperdrive or fuel.
This makes such jumps possible, but only something you'd resort to in an emergency. For example, you mess up by accepting a deadline you can't make, and so have a chance to salvage your reputation and complete the mission by sacrificing your otherwise-perfect build, buying a Gecko with a drive, fuel, and nothing else (not even an autopilot or atmospheric shielding, let alone any weapons), and resigning yourself to re-buying your preferred ship upon mission completion.
Like the OP says, 'the game' is what happens when you have to deal with a finite jump range; reach the destination in 1 jump but arriving with scant weapons, or else do it in 2 or 3 jumps with a more practical loadout, but also a greater chance of needing to use it en route.
Don't wanna derail the thread but the epitome of this in ED, for me, has always been the design decision to slam stars in the player's face on every. single. jump. In previous Elites your hyperspace exit points were far from any nearby body - basically you enter the new system at a random location at about half the system radius, equidistant between the central star and the outermost planets, and then have to choose, as so-called 'pilot' of said ship, which star / planet / station you'd like shoved in your mug. So you can totally go to a star, if you wanna (tho if it's only for fuel-scooping a nearby gas giant might be easier and safer), but you have to actually "fly" the "spaceship" thru "space" to get there... So you're doing something, making conscious decisions, managing fuel and time and risk of interception, and then proximity and rate of approach to the giant ball of million-degree insta-death. Even in classic 8-bit Elite, making a close approach to a star was one of the little highlights of gameplay - on the Beeb there were only two types of planet - 'basket balls' & 'death stars' - both monochrome wireframes. But the stars were coloured! With yellow/red dithered fill! You could almost feel the heat coming off them as your cockpit temperature gauge climbed! In ED the thrill and spectacle of making close approaches to stars - but also, the challenge and freedom of choice of navigating across every system, as well as the continuity of travel from A to B - has been totally squandered and trivialised, and likewise the trial and achievement of scooping fuel directly from a star is now something that simply happens automatically on every jump, unless the player consciously acts to prevent it. LOL. And yet, ED players aren't allowed autopilots because that would supposedly devalue flight and navigation. Go figure.
I'll keep saying it - the bottom line in all this is that FD simply do not have the pulse of their own flagship title. None of ED's devs grew up devoted to Elite / FE2 / FFE - it's not their favorite game, and even Breadbins Himself seems to think it's just some spaceplanes and pew pew and what's the problem? Et voila, Elite, no? 'Accessible'. It's gotta be accessible eh, LOL... and what could be more accessible than a 60 LY jump range and then having every target star rammed in your face when you get there? Now go 'blaze your own trail' and stop complaining..
The last word in 'accesibility' is simply a tech demo. Elite's supposed to be a game..
